Think Like a Teacher

Last week I shared a list of ideas that came out of a recent collaborative  OK2Ask® session.  The participants, all edtech coaches or teachers who play a less formal “coach” type role with their peers,  chose the top  challenges from a longer list of possibilities and then shared ideas they have used or hope to use to meet those challenges. You can see  a recording of the full session  here (uses Adobe Connect). This post shares part 2 of their explanations and solutions, saving you the time of watching a recording. Like all of us, you probably value the  timesaving “executive summary.” Again, I offer only initials ( and state abbreviation the first time they contribute) to respect our participants’ privacy.

Challenge: Promoting tech for LEARNING, not tech for tech sake

CD (OR): you really have to model this for teachers.

DS (IN): With kids, you introduce technology and they FREELY explore. I help the teachers by having them watch me explore with their kids.

SR (NY): I want to ban the word tech and replace it with tools. We all use tools everyday in our lives, I want to be able to have all the teachers feel comfortable with these new tools.

RP (AZ): Ask them (teachers) “What are you going to do with that?”

NA (FL): I break down tech into teacher tools vs. student use for enhancing learning.

JZ (PA): I try to make sure what I do in computer class is connected to what they [students] are doing in some area of their curriculum, not just a “computer” assignment.

MB (UT): I get the kids hooked on the tools, then ask them how their teacher could use this tool.

JS (SC): Ask [teachers] why the “tool” is being used.

KB (PA): The pedagogy should drive the integration, not the technology. Eliminate the tool first approach.

LD (OR): It makes more sense to use tech within the subjects in the curriculum.

CD: I also think it is important that teachers are confident with the materials that they need to teach.  If they are trying to master their curriculum and use new tools, that can be just too much for them.

KB: Provide choices, selection.

MB: I used [a certain tool] with sixth graders last week, and they had a ton of ways they can use it in the classroom with their teacher. Luckily the teacher was listening

RP: Have follow up sessions where they [teachers] share how they used the new tools.

NA: Try teaching a tech elective [to students] using project based learning to showcase ways they can use technology in every core class they take.

JS: Spend several weeks of instruction on a tool — that gives teachers a better feeling about using the tool.

Challenge: Coaching during other major initiatives, such as implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

SR: This year has been very tough our teachers learning the common core.

Find ways to make technology help with that initiative so teachers can “kill two birds with one stone” as they adjust to the new initiative.

MH (PA): Digital writing is part of CCSS, so that helps.

Stephanie Ryall: Yes I think the common core will ultimately or already has created more use of the smartboards in our school because of the format the lesson are provided in NY. [helps teachers envision how they can be successful with both because the lesson plan shows them]

KB: Provide a pyramid approach for tools. One tool per year and it builds. In the intermediate/secondary grades the students have an arsenal to choose.

LG (MA):  Most teachers are apt to use what they know.

AQ (OR): Sometimes if a teacher can see the tool in action by observing another teacher use it in class or by having it modeled in their own class, they are more willing to give if a try.

CD: I think we also need to ask them what they would want to use if “it was easy”. Then you can backwards map it and teach them the skills they need.

Other CHALLENGES and ideas to motivate teachers

JZ: It is really important to be sure the technology works when teachers try to use it – a problem or 2 can turn teachers off from trying again.

Solutions:

MB: Modeling a lesson in the classroom first, then being there for back up when they are teaching.

Offer incentives and motivators:

CD: Teaching them all the ways to Google.  It blows their mind when they learn that all the information they want is there, if they know how to ask Google for it.

DS: A silly thing that I did was put a big smiley poster outside a teacher’s room that said “She did it”  after someone met one of my challenges.  Then, the kids would ask them why they got the smiley face.  The teacher usually beams as she tells her class.

KB: You could also use ClassDojo, a popular management app, to give  your teachers “tech” feedback. You can customize the behaviors. It sends emails, too.

SR: I have an idea for the teachers.  If they will Facetime with me I will answer their questions!!

Have competitions by hallway, department, or building. Who can have the greatest number of teachers implementing (insert teaching initiative here) using technology? Prizes? Food or release time or ??

MH: Funny how food works – lol

SR: chocolate

KB: You can buy chocolate computers or mouses online as fun tech gifts

What do ETCs WISH for?

We created a Padlet wishlist  from this session, and it is open for further contributions by edtech coaches by ANY title:   http://padlet.com/wall/29gq78x0vw

Join the conversation

Please feel free to comment here with your own edtech coach challenge/solution. I also invite everyone to join the ISTE SIGETC for our “Last Tuesday” Twitter chats. Simpy set up a search for  the #SIGETC hashtag! The next one is coming up January 28 at 1 pm EST. See the full schedule and transcripts here. Everyone is welcome, whether you are an ISTE member or not.

Are you and educational technology coach? Are you the go-to teacher for all things tech in your hallway, department, or building? Have you been assigned a couple of periods a day to bring every other teacher up to speed using tools well as a seamless part of learning? Have you had successes and challenges doing all this? You are definitely NOT alone!

Last night I took part in an online sharing session for educational technology coaches. Their job titles were all different, but the participants were all teachers who work side by side with their colleagues, helping them teach effectively — using  technology to help where appropriate. The discussion was  a firehose of great ideas, and I was lucky to simply chime in once in awhile as the moderator.  You can watch a recording of this free OK2Ask® session here (uses Adobe Connect) or simply enjoy this post, the first installment  sharing what came out of the fire hose.

I have used initials and state abbreviations (the first time they “speak”) to give credit for ideas and included my own thoughts in italics. I did edit, [add words], and rearrange the order a bit for clarity. Thank you to all these collaborative folks for their ideas!

Challenge: Ideas and resources to motivate teachers with varied tech expertise

JS (SC): Have teacher led sessions sharing what they know.

CD (OR): Front load information for the teachers that you know will have trouble.  They usually know it is hard for them and willing to do work ahead of time (and grateful to not feel lost during the training).

JZ (PA) Inservices are a real challenge! We did try splitting into several sessions, but that’s not always possible time – wise.

MB (UT): I do a lot of  one-on-one with my teachers.. Then I can address their exact needs and levels. 15 minutes with one teacher is sometimes more effective than a whole groupl

KB (PA) Leveled activities for participants

PH (AZ): teacher led sessions

NA (FL): Meet with small groups of teachers with similar skills / needs

RP (AZ): Teachers should be required to bring their laptop to the session to hands on not just watching

TJ (NC): Hands on training of tools

MJ (NY): I try to make it fun for all.

SR (NY): I now have a person who helps me from our church.  We are working on this challenge together.

DS (IN): I am trying to learn at the same time.

KB: Provide an environment where failure is OK. Promote problem solving.

CD: You can also go into their classrooms and model how to use the technology with the students.  Once the students get a taste of it, they may push their teacher to learn more.

JS: We ask teachers to differentiate so we must model. The 1 to 1 for a short period is very effective.

Challenge: Defining my role as a coach, not a repair person (or playing BOTH roles if that is your job!)

 MB: I am the go-to repair person, but then I always ask teachers what I can help them with.

NB: Set times for repairs (student or teacher) and then time to meet with teachers on developing tech skills

Use a repair ticket system—many schools have this.

TJ: instead of fixing problems for them I have started walking them through the process of fixing it themselves.

KB: I have “Techsperts,” a student tech team. They provide supports as well. Helps teachers with [classroom] management.  Many issues with integration are management. “Trusted” students help solve minor issues.

JZ: I play both roles, which makes it harder to differentiate.

If you play both roles, bring along TWO HATS and change them to show your role.

KB (PA): Birthday hats…. you can decorate them, too!

 Re ticket systems and “fixes”:

SR: My colleague and I have developed a trouble ticket.  Still those timid teachers have the most trouble filling them out.  Maybe I should make a simpler form.

DS: I try to explain as I fix.  That way they can be the expert at their grade level.

KB: Make “Please meet me face-to-face” an option in the ticket.

CD: Could you walk them through a fake ticket a few times so that when they need to fill it out independently, they won’t feel intimidated.

KB: Ask three before me! [use this same rule that we use with KIDS]

NA: Their problems are always an emergency (to them)

JS: Some say, “It is easier to call you”

MB: teachers will email or text me with problem. then I do the ticket

NA: our ticket asks how have they tried to resolve problem first

MB: I also have teachers do a ticket when i do inservice.

LD (OR): The students are pretty knowledgeable  on the computer,  sometimes with direction, they can solve their own computer problems

KB: Provide a list of tutorials or common fixes. It may be there before they contact you.

CD: You could even scaffold the help.  First time they watch you.  The second (and maybe 3rd) time they do it with your guidance.  Next time they do it with you there, but not helping unless they need it.

Challenge: Helping teachers continue to grow – in both teaching and tech use

KB: Grow & Glow time [teacher sharing time when they talk about something they did in class]. Can be small groups or similar or mixed ability [maybe a grade level or department?

JS: I hold departmental sessions for teachers to share

NA: once a month we have an entire faculty mtg and we have 4-5 teachers share things that they have learned / used with their students. Takes pressure off me.  encourages teachers to try something new

CD: make them the experts!

JS: having [training] sessions recorded is a great plus [so teachers can revisit]

CD: If you are able to get into the classroom and “catch” them using some sort of technology, you can compliment their use and boost confidence.  It is like the “catch them being good’ idea we do with kids. Even if it is just email or creating a simple document.

KB: Provide “Techtastic” tags for [teacher] badge lanyards if they are caught using tech

MB: I brag about my teachers to the other teachers — so they know who to ask when I’m not available.

NA: I also ask teachers to send me pic / videos of great uses of tech with their students so we can show it off

Encourage teachers to tell students the technology infused lesson is under scrutiny. They will make an even greater effort to “make it work” and show that they are learning. 

SR: Yes. Use the kids as motivators.

RP: Surveying teachers to find out what they most want help with is wise

What do ETCs WISH for?

Here is an online wishlist this group created. Feel free to add YOUR wishes: http://padlet.com/wall/29gq78x0vw

If you find yourself itching to respond to the ideas here, I hope you will join the twitter chats of a related group, the ISTE SIGETC (special interest group for educational technology coaches) and future OK2Ask coach sessions. We would LOVE to hear YOUR challenges and ideas. You are definitely not alone.

 (Full disclosure: I am part of the leadrship team of SIGETC.)

We see new tools and tech fashions every day. Their names are as silly as Saturday morning cartoons. As teachers and edtech coaches, we are the consumers, and the edtech startup market launches new offerings in a fashion cycle as rapid as your local department store: early winter, late winter, early spring season, etc., each rolling out racks of choices. All of us prefer the edtech fashions we can get for free, but what would motivate us to consider actually spending money on a membership or app for learning in our classrooms?

When it comes to our edtech wardrobes, what will we pay for? (Drooling developers want to know.)

• Classic continuity. Like a good blazer, the best styles last and are useful year after year. We want to save files and activities we create in a tool and use them year to year, possibly altering the hem or adding trim, but saving us the time of starting over.
• imaginative match. We want a choice that coordinates and adds spunk to almost all our  curriculum “separates.” A worthwhile tool  fits neatly into our required curriculum but also allows us to use it creatively, making every combination a little different. Both the match and the imagination matter, not just one or the other.
• Label. Reputability matters. Is the label/name a familiar? Do other teachers seem to value it? Yes, our tech fashion choices are heavily influenced by the “look” of fellow teachers. (Beware the lure of clever branding when the product itself has the quality of a Chinese knock-off!)
• Flexibility. We want educational Lycra. Tools need to fit like sweat pants, allowing us and our students to do many things many ways. Bend and stretch those minds.
• Closet space. We might pay a bit for a walk-in closet so we can store extra large amounts of “stuff.” But we are very good at cleaning out our closets if the trade-off is an unreasonable cost. And don’t tell me this tool only allows two hangers before the extra costs kick in. I won’t even consider it.
• Longevity. This is one of my biggest concerns before I’ll pay for something new. Will it still be there in a year? Is this company likely to last?  I don’t have the time to redo EVERYTHING, so I look for fashions that are likely to last, especially if I pay for them!  We all have friends who went whole hog into some cool tool that simply disappeared mid-January, just as students were reviewing for midterms. 401 Not Found. (Of course, nothing is guaranteed. See  label.)
• Availability. We want tools and resources that offer ubiquitous access, not just  in specialty stores. Device agnostic tools are best, so our students can use them on iOS, Android, web, or whatever. And it better work well on all of them.
• Makes sense.  We can see how to wear it, fasten it, twist it, button it, and wear it many ways without looking for a user’s manual. Think of your coat with a removable liner. Did you read directions to figure out how to remove and reinstall the liner? Who does that? Any wearer should be able to figure it out without a tutorial created by a busy teacher.
• Off the rack fit. Teaching tools must be suitable for OUR situations. No alterations needed. If it requires a workaround, I leave it on the rack. There are plenty to choose from, and this is my money.
• Best pricing. Nobody pays list.  I want coupons, BOGOs, or even nearly-new versions at drastically reduced cost.

Teachers are some of the best shoppers ever. We know what we will pay for. We are accustomed to fairly limited (actual clothing) wardrobes built around careful choices, and our tech shopping is no different.

A corollary post I am pondering:

Edtech wardrobes: What about uniforms (district wide adoptions)?

Simplify. It’s a common New Year’s Resolution. As teachers, we laugh. How can we simplify with so many requirements, so many masters, so many changes, and so little time?

How can we not?

My strategy for 2014: A handful and a bushel basket

I have a handful of go-to tools I use constantly:

• To do the simplest tasks
• In the shortest time
• To accomplish the greatest amount

Nearby, I have an electronic bushel basket to choose from when:

• There is more time
• I need a solution for a complicated challenge
• I seek to inspire

What’s in my handful? This handful is so much a part of my daily life, I do not see them as “tools” or “technology” anymore. That’s what “simplify” is all about:

Dropbox– because I can share big files and give people a direct link without fearing that Google is watching my every move. Besides, it shows up as “part” of my computer (Finder)

Google Docs/Drive – because so many people already have memberships and I LOVE being able to make color coded folders to organize things, no matter whether they are “owned” by me or not

Doodle – because I hate endless emails chains about possible meeting times

iStuff: iMessage, iTunes, Contacts, iCal and plain old Mail. Yes, my Mac is my right handful.

Evernote – because I carry it with me everywhere: iPhone, iPad, laptop. I keep everything from hotel confirmation info to saved images of what an outfit looks like to information I fear my sieve-brain will lose. And I can keep it organized in searchable notebooks. I love grabbing travel info to read later when planning a trip! I do the same with info and ideas about anything. I even keep things to help when visiting a hospitalized relative.

Hootsuite – because I have a professional Twitter account, a personal FB account, and a TeachersFirst Twitter account, among others.    I can preschedule what I want to “say”!

Grammarly – because I am unapologetically the world’s WORST typist, even though I am a very good speller. This saves a LOT of embarrassment.

Screencast-o-matic – so I can SHOW instead of TELL. (I love using this to show writers what I edit in their work.)

Plain old screenshots – as above, only in freeze-frames.

Could I live with just this handful? Probably. Will I limit myself to these in 2014? Definitely not. If I need more reach beyond the fingertips of this handful, I know where to find my trusty bushel basket. Although I rarely recall the tool names, I know I can find unlimited, good options at the TeachersFirst Edge. As chief editor of the site, every week I see the latest additions and add my own creative ideas to reviews of ones I particularly like (what a cool job!). The exact date we listed them as Featured Sites may be a blur, but I know I can search for them by keyword, Edge category, or tag, such as device agostic tool. I don’t Google it. I TF it. And every tool is already vetted (saves time).

If I were still in the classroom, I would choose a half-dozen-handful together with my class:

• a visual presentation tool
• a screencast tool like this or this
• a word processing tool (with commenting and collaborative editing)
• a multimedia tool– whatever seems appropriate to the age level
• a file sharing and storage tool
• and probably a sticky note/brainstorming tool

And if we were a BYOD school, I’d have them choose the handful from DAT (device agnostic tool) choices so kids could help each other. That’s it. Everything else waits in the bushel basket until a student or I needs more.

Simplify.

We all do it, especially in December. We rush around, telling our colleagues and our students how busy we are and how much there is to “get done” before [insert your holiday or academic deadline here]. A recent Wall Street Journal article cautions against the spread of “secondhand stress.”

Uh-oh. Guilty as charged.

In the classroom, we let our own deadlines and work requirements spill onto the kids. If the Common Core changes or the latest iteration of high stakes tests have thrown our planning process out the window, the kids feel it.  If a change of school administration or a new teacher evaluation system has us on edge, we are probably just like the boss confronted in the article, “your volume goes up, your pace of speaking goes up, and you’re not fully in the conversation.” Just as a business environment incubates a contagion of secondhand stress, so can our classrooms (and schools). The kids cannot name it or explain why, but they feel some of the same responses the article describes from secondhand stress:

(#1) Have your elementary students started to take on your mannerisms in the way they talk to other students about “getting their work done”?

(#3)Has a parent ever told you their child was “afraid” to ask questions?

(#4)Has a student ever chased you down the hall on your way to your next class or duty?

(#2 +#5) Do your students throw away their own work? Have you ever found the papers/plan book from your desk in the wastebasket (most likely in middle school)?

Though the business world Sue Shellenbarger discusses in the article is an entirely different culture from school, there are glaring similarities. The faculty room can certainly be a stress-infection zone, teeming with the stress virus. And don’t think we don’t take the virus right down the hall to the kids.

So what do we do about it (and can technology possibly help ease the burden)?

1. Make our classrooms a community of learners instead of a boss-worker environment. Start with a wiki as a class “hub” and give ALL students access to edit it. Then show them how, valuing their additions by commenting on them and encouraging them to “discuss” things you say via constructive criticism. There are LOADS of collaborative tools you can use to build on community. Link to them from that one hub so they are easy to find.

2. Try a writing prompt taken from the WSJ article: “If I were a household appliance, which one would I be?” You may discover signs of secondhand stress — and will least learn something about each student. Be sure to write along with the kids and let everyone share what they have to say. If you have a class blog, that’s perfect.

3. Include prevention of secondhand stress in the class rules your class generates at the start of school.

4. Value and make time for questioning by someone other than you. Make a question page on the class wiki for kids to enter questions as they do homework. Give extra credit to kids who ANSWER them. Handle unanswered questions (and highlight great answers) at the start of class. Who should answer? Hopefully anybody EXCEPT you. Be willing to say, ” I did not realize that was so confusing. I learned from you!” Message: Questions are not “interruptions.” They are a valued part of learning for all of us.

“Yeah, yeah, I know that,” you say?  I am sure you do. Sometimes it just takes the observations of a peer (or student) to remind us that we are virulent spreaders of stress. Maybe there is a New Years resolution in here somewhere.

Wow.

I have worked face to face or side by side with at least 30,000 to 50,000 teachers in my career — at least if you count each teacher-year as “one.” That does not include the Thinking Teachers I encounter in my role as sort of  24/7 “edtech coach” via a free web service I am in charge of. Of those, I am privileged to know so many GREAT teachers, and yet every day I discover more. Sometimes I wonder why we don’t tag them in a global geocaching game for “Amazing Teacher Here- X marks the spot.” I read their blogs, I watch their students’ videos, I work together with them on an ISTE SIG, I meet them in OK2Ask online professional development sessions. I want to scream to the post-PISA media,”You guys, LOOK! These teachers are AMAZING! Did you see what that kid just did? Did you see what the teacher did to make it happen!?”

Wow.

So today I am thrilled and humbled to discover this blog among those named as finalists for the 1oth annual Edublog Awards.

Wow.

One of the real standouts among those 30-5o,ooo-teachers-I-have-known nominated me. I have thanked her by email, on Twitter, and now on this blog. I worked with her virtually for a couple of years before we actually met face to face. She is one of the teachers I point to, exclaiming, “You guys, LOOK! These teachers are AMAZING! Did you see what her bio class just did? Did you see what Louise Maine did to make it happen!?”

Thanks again, Louise.

I suggest that every teacher look at all the nominees. You, too, will say, “Wow” at the amazing things your fellow Thinking Teachers have to say and share. If, after losing yourself in the nominees,  you think this blog deserves a vote in the crowd-driven selection of “Best Individual Blog” from Edublog Awards, find Think Like a Teacher on the list here. Then follow these steps:

1. Click the up-vote arrow bottom-left of the post. A pop-up from List.ly (the voting tool) will appear.
2. Sign in to List.ly with your Twitter, LinkedIn,Facebook, or Google + account.
2*. You’ll need to provide your name and email if this is your first time using List.ly.
3. The window will disappear.
4. Click on the up-vote arrow one more time to cast your vote.

Wow.
Pass it on.

I cherish my collection of memorable teaching/learning moments that exemplify how gifted students “see” the world differently. I do not believe that gifted students are alone in their unique views. They are, however, uniquely willing and able to express these thoughts —  or may have them far more often. In any case, I believe we as teachers can learn much from listening to the questions of gifted students who blow away the cliche, “think outside the box.” Their questions, ideas, and thoughtful approaches unfold the boxes, creating something entirely different from the plain brown cardboard called “school.”

One such unfolded view comes in the “visual creativity” Jonathan Wai describes on the Mindshift blog. Wai posits the importance of recognizing and promoting visual thinking (“spatial creativity”) among all learners. I have seen memorable moments of this acuity “unfolding” in front of me, students whizzing through Tangrams and Set so quickly the rest of us missed  the answers before they began another problem!  Visual-spatial skill uses an entirely different part of the brain, one typically underdeveloped in teachers’ verbally adept brains and ignored by tests, Standards, and cardboard school. The Common Core Standards include shapes, slices, rotations, flips, turns, surfaces, and the usual volume and area. CCSS high school geometry standards include endless requirements about relationships and functions that define shapes. There is even one standard that calls for “Apply[ing] geometric methods to solve design problems (e.g., designing an object or structure to satisfy physical constraints or minimize cost; working with typographic grid systems based on ratios). Another calls on students to “Identify the shapes of two-dimensional cross-sections of three-dimensional objects, and identify three-dimensional objects generated by rotations of two-dimensional objects.”  But all of these are within confines (boxes) that are rarely unfolded outside of “math class” or for other purposes and approaches to thinking visually.

Stop to think about the kid you went to school with, the one who was amazing at geometry and stunk in every other math class. S/he “saw” the proofs that you struggled with, even if s/he never quite got them on paper correctly. Remember those kids. I taught them, the gifted kids who scored the maximum 19 on the Block Design subtest of a WISC-R  but could barely write or speak a complex sentence.  Jonathan Wai may be onto something. If promoting talent in visual thinking is good for these extreme cases, perhaps we should be encouraging all students to unfold and repurpose the boxes. I share ten FREE, reviewed resources to get started, since this is not an area most teachers feel adept to address:

Several reviewed, online Tangram games

A collection of virtual, visual manipulatives (requires Java)

Blender 3D animation— a REAL challenge!

TinkerCad design for 3D printers

Foldplay (very cool!)

Box Templates (to make, UNFOLD, and change?)

Origami Club animations of MANY foldables

A new way to look at unfolded boxes (direct link)

Cloud Dreamer (for younger ones)

Sodaplay

Another, profoundly memorable teaching/learning moment for me came in a single question from a second grader: “Is the number of grains of sand on the earth — at any one moment– infinity?”  I thought of this question when I ran across this post, an example of a box unfolding to new thinking. Questions like the second grader and blog versions of the grains-of-sand debate defy boxes. They do not go “beyond” a box, they create new folds in our understanding of the world. Like many questions that pop into our students’ heads, these fall outside the scope of cardboard school. But shouldn’t we invite them inside? The BEST source for questions is your students’ own thought questions. If you don’t want them to “interrupt” a lesson by unfolding their thinking out loud, at least offer a virtual graffiti wall using a tool accessible from any device where they can post their questions and “crazy ideas.” How/ how often do you encourage your students to interrupt YOUR thinking with theirs? Here are some sources for questions you and your students can drop into your curriculum, outside the “standard”:

PopTech

Think (elementary)

101 questions

Super Thinkers

Thought Questions

This is the season of boxes: shipping boxes, gift boxes, ornament boxes, etc. Why not use the inspiration of a few experiences with gifted kids to unfold some of the cardboard in your class’s thinking as a special gift? You never know what you might unwrap.

As a teacher, I am thankful for many things over the course of a rich career, some small details, some lasting legacies:

For EMPTY butterfly clips, signifying that I have no “homework”

For “teacher shoes” with extra cushiony heels to survive days-months-years-decades of standing and walking on concrete thinly clad in carpet

For donations of Kleenex

For permission to play music in my classroom

For Apple IIe, IIgs, HP, IBM, Lenovo, and MacBook Pro, my friends for decades

For www

For the parent volunteers who organize kids on field trips, at special “culminating” events, and at after school celebrations

For gift cards to the local teacher store (stickers!!!)

For the colleagues who organize the teachers’ room potluck lunches, filled with comfort foods and things none of us should eat

For the invention of microwave ovens cheap enough to have multiples in the teachers’ room

For the kids who come back as grownups

For being blessed with my own children — whose lessons make me a MUCH better teacher and a better mom. Today I read this on the blog of one of my now-adult children and cry the most grateful tears:

As the child of a public school teacher–and a gifted education teacher at that– I was raised with extreme appreciation of the importance of having the proper resources available to children to foster creative learning and independent growth. That is not to say I learned that every educational opportunity required substantial spending. Rather, I grew up realizing the impact a few generous parents or school board members could have on a classroom. Whether it was helping my mother scour the sale rack for stickers to use in her own classroom or seeing the look of gratitude on her face when thanking the moms who volunteered at the various district-wide events she organized and hosted each year, I grew to value the importance of parental participation in the classroom. And, even more importantly, I learned the importance of listening and responding to teachers’ requests.[…]

When I dropped off the new toys yesterday, his teacher was overwhelmed. So much so that she asked if she could give me a hug to say thank you. I told her it was the least I could do. And I meant it. After all– in choosing childcare, we trust a great deal to the folks who spend each day with our children. I was more than willing to help ensure that she had everything necessary to continue doing an excellent job fostering the creative and loving learning environment for [my child] and his classmates.

My greatest thanks are for all the teachers and students who pay it forward.

We all know the experience of walking into a kitchen and being engulfed by the buttery smell of baking cookies. It feels so good inside your nose, you want to bite the air.  As we near the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, i.e. Cookie Season, this video wooed me as quickly as the first fragrant air tendrils of Tollhouse cookies.

This is inspiration: a lesson.. a UNIT… and yearlong THEME! If I were still teaching gifted, we could explore it all year: Why does it taste so good?

Start by brainstorming the questions that waft from watching this. The video makes us ask more than it answers. What else uses egg proteins? Are eggs from certain chickens better for certain cookies? Are there other emulsions that separate to make food “work”? Who figured out how to make cookies in the first place? Could we test some of the temperature variants and their impact on cookie results? How much of this do professional chefs know and how much do they care?  This is more than simply food science. It is also human body systems, senses, and perception. (How ’bout that part about throwing away the timer?!)

If we took all the questions that a few fluent thinkers could generate, fueled by this video and perhaps a Tollhouse or two, we’d have enough inquiry to fill a highly enriched science curriculum and a group of kids hungry to attack it. The best part is that the questions come from the kids, so they spread like warm cookie smell. The only people who might object to a cookie-based curriculum might be those concerned about childhood obesity. So we make sure we include the nutritional side of decision making about our food. We might even look into WHY cookies appeal to us so much more than, say, broccoli.

Watch the video. Imagine and ask questions. As you sit down to Thanksgiving Dinner, you may find yourself wondering about the chemical reactions that turned that turkey such a lovely brown or made the mashed potatoes form a cement-like substance on the sides of the bowl. Maybe the experience will make you  consider the possibility of hooking your students with cookies during the upcoming holiday season.

Bon appetit.

Teachers are careful about the things we do and say. We cringe when remarks accidentally slip out and  wish we had a verbal “undo” button. We beat ourselves up when words intended as neutral feedback somehow echo back sounding negative. When commenting on writing or anything student-created, I deliberately “sandwich” what a student needs to improve between two positive observations.

This blog post makes me pause to wonder if my praise has been reinforcing the “wrong” things — or the right ones — both with my students and my own children. More importantly, I wonder how small changes in comments on student posts in MySciLife  or on student blogs and online projects might build creative confidence far beyond the hollow “great job” or “interesting idea.”

Maybe it is better to comment before kids publish. Or to comment on the struggles we see them go through before the finished product.  Or maybe we should emphasize ongoing process by asking where they will go next:

I love your video, especially because I know you had to redo it three times to get it right. Your extra efforts were worth it, and  your outtakes show how much you improved! I salute the changes you made! Where do you want to take it next ?

Katrina Schwartz’s post about praise, girls, and process made sense of two experiences I had as a student that have always stood in higher relief, though I never analyzed exactly why  until now:

In sixth or seventh grade art class, we were assigned to build a Rube Goldberg type invention out of found materials. I don’t recall the details. I do recall that I spent three art classes coaxing a windmill-like contraption, precariously taped and glued together before the era of Superglue, to work. It had several rubber bands and used plastic spoons for blades, and I was trying to make it pick up and throw a ping pong ball. The best it got was one lucky throw amid scores of attempts, and I never replicated that “success.” But I remember it,  not much more except the trials and trials. I also remember that Art class in general was one of the places where I felt especially successful.

Many years later, as a grad student, I wrote a paper on creativity — a topic near and dear to me. As he handed it back to me emblazoned with an “A,” the prof asked. “Now what are you going to do with it?” I rattled my head slightly and asked, “What do you mean?” No one had ever asked me about going further than the “final grade” to consider publishing or sending it anywhere other than the trunk-of-finished-papers in my basement. That question twisted around me then and squirms inside me with every product I have made since: from fabric projects and writing pieces to an entire graduate exhibit of art quilts.

Schwartz’s post is right. The nature of praise does matter. Process and open-endedness matter. I am sure you have personal experiences that rise as evidence from your own memory.

I wonder if we would we be better teachers and continue to improve if we were praised for PROCESS, for trying again after “failures” (lesson flops) more than if praised for what we have at the finish (like test scores)? Yes, the results matter, but we will get better ones if we are resilient learners, too.